


What is Normal (When We're Not Humans?)

by GalacticNB



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, CC is Sassy, Family, Gen, Hat Kid is Sassy, More tags to be added, Multi, Other, Snatcher's a cryptid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-30 06:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticNB/pseuds/GalacticNB
Summary: Gianna has been moved from relative to relative for a long time, as things have happened to either herself or to her family that has caused for her frequent moving. But maybe this time, when she moves in with her distant Aunt Kaitlin, it'll be different.After all...Not everyone is what they appear to be.





	1. Welcome to Oakland

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A House Full of Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18203051) by [MonsterMonsoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterMonsoon/pseuds/MonsterMonsoon). 

** _An inky black void._ **

** _Shadowy hands clawing at her._ **

** _Her one mother screaming as she got dragged away._ **

** _A set of arms grabbing her and carrying her._ **

** _Her other mother’s kind face smiling at her, trying not to show fear as she told her to stay hidden._ **

** _And then-!_ **

“Gianna? Gianna, wake up.” 

Gianna’s eyes snapped open as she sat up, rubbing her eyes as she looked at her foster parent, Asuka, who was looking at her through the rearview mirror as they drove down the empty, late night forest road. 

“Wh-what is it?” the 12-year-old asked with a yawn as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat in a mix of the physical discomfort from sitting down so long and from the mental discomfort of the nightmare that she just had.

Asuka sighed and, after turning on their turn signal despite the barren road, pulled over to the side, put on their blinkers, and then turned toward Gianna, a worried look on their face.

“Did you have that dream again?” they asked, their gloved hands holding hers comfortingly.

Gianna nodded shakily, squeezing their hands tightly. Asuka sighed and squeezed her hands tightly, sitting there for a minute before they let go and fluffed the fur of their jacket before they turned off the blinkers and got back on the road, making Gianna sigh as she leaned against the window glass and stared at the dark forest rolling past. Eventually, it parted to show a small town in an almost basin under the forest. She could see that it was mostly dark, with small little lights here and there to show various shops and other things around there.

“We’re here.” Asuka said, snapping Gianna away from looking at the town below.

She shifted in her seat and saw that they were approaching a very far removed manor that looked incredibly old and almost vacant. Sure, there seemed to be some lights on, but otherwise, it seemed absolutely desolate. But, then again, it was 2 AM, if the clock in the car was anything to go by. Gianna squinted in the dark and barely made out the figure of a woman standing on the porch. However, she didn’t get to stare for long, as Asuka turned off the engine and got out of the car. Grabbing her backpack, she put it on and got out the car, taking in the late summer air. She then turned and went to go help Asuka and managed to see them struggling to get her suitcase out of the car. Gianna gave them a nervous smile as she took the suitcase and walked up to the porch, hearing Asuka close the back hatch of the car and start to come up onto the porch as well.

Standing on the porch was the woman that Gianna had noticed before, but now she could see her in more detail. The woman was taller than Gianna but not as tall as Asuka, and had dark skin with little splotches of lighter skin over her one eye, arms, and legs and had short hair that was spiked up and looked almost like cat ears. While the exact colors of the outfit were unclear, she was wearing a frilly nightgown that seemed almost fit in a fairytale and slippers that seemed to have cats on them. 

“I’m guessing that you’re Gianna?” the woman asked with a gentle smile.

“Yes, ma’am.” she said, her hands inadvertently tightening around the strap of her suitcase.

The woman chuckled and reached forward. Gianna reflexively flinched back from her hand that was placed on her shoulder. The woman frowned briefly before it turned into a small smile as her hands folded in front of her.

“Please, just call me CC.” she said reassuringly.

Gianna nodded as she shuffled closer to Asuka and looked up with them, silently pleading that she didn’t have to live with yet another relative. However, her temporary caretaker gave a sympathetic smile as they gently pushed her closer to CC.

“Sorry about arriving so late at night. I hope we didn’t cause any trouble for you, Kaitlin.” they said with an apologetic tone to their voice.

“Not at all! I usually end up staying up late at night anyway.” the woman laughed it off, giving a friendly pat on the arm to Asuka.

“Alright, if you say so.” Asuka then turned toward Gianna and knelt down, putting either hand on her shoulder and giving her a comforting smile. “I’ll be back next weekend. Have fun.” they said, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Gianna couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she rubbed at the kiss childishly, causing Asuka and CC to chuckle. Asuka then stood up, brushing off their pants as they turned toward CC, waved goodbye before they went into the car. From the driver’s side, Gianna could see them flash her one more reassuring smile and waved before driving away.

The 12-year-old felt her shoulders slump as she nervously turned toward CC, expecting the worst, now that Asuka was no longer there for her to hold a facade up for. However, her aunt seemed just as pleasant as she turned to look at Gianna, holding her hand out as she tilted her head to the side.

“Do you want me to take your bags, dearie?” she asked, her voice soft and soothing.

Gianna shook her head and CC simply smiled as she opened the door to her new home and gestured for the girl to go inside. Taking in a shaky breath, she did so and was surprised at how…homey it felt. The living room had someone passed out on the couch, but they were covered in blankets and somehow added to the comforting atmosphere that this place had. 

“That’s Felicity, my daughter. She was going to stay up to greet you but she ended up falling asleep. She was especially excited to give you a tour around the house so I’ll leave that to her in the morning.” CC said quietly, obviously not wanting to wake the girl up as they made their way to the staircase.

As they were passing by the darkened kitchen, Gianna could hear the sound of faint grumbling and loud typing. Curiously, she stopped following CC to peer inside the kitchen. All she could see was a face illuminated by what looked like a laptop screen and two bright, almost glowing, golden eyes that the person seemed to possess. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to realize that CC was standing next to her, an exasperated look on her face.

“Snatcher, why are you being a cryptid in the dark? If you’re going to work so late, then turn on the kitchen light.” CC said as she reached over Gianna’s head to hit a light switch.

There was a hiss as the kitchen light came on, revealing a pale tan man with bright gold eyes, dark purplish-blue hair, and wearing a set of striped purple pajamas. He looked vaguely annoyed as he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times before glaring at CC.

“There was no need to.” the man, obviously Snatcher, grumbled angrily, sounding like a child that just got scolded for taking a cookie out of the cookie jar.

“You’re going to strain your eyes if you keep the light off all the time. Also make sure to stretch when you’re done with work for the night. You’re going to have back problems if you don’t stop hunching over a computer like that.” CC chided, though, by the tone of her voice and the look on her face, this was a conversation they had had many times before.

“I know, I know.” Snatcher then seemed to notice Gianna and gave a quirked eyebrow as he looked her up and down, “Who’s the kid?” 

Gianna felt CC’s arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer and, when Gianna looked, CC was giving Snatcher a wide smile.

“This is my niece, Gianna! I told everyone earlier this week that she would be moving in.” CC said, sounding a little disappointed in the man.

_ Don’t say anything mean to him. Don’t say anything mean to him. _ Gianna internally repeated as a mantra to herself.

“Why is she  _ here _ , though? Doesn’t she have a family to go to?” Snatcher said, scoffing at the child.

Oh that did it.

“Doesn’t Snatcher sound like a stupid name?” she retorted, only to cover her mouth with one of her hands.

Both adults stared at her for a good few minutes before CC snickered and looked over at Snatcher with an amused expression.

“She’s right, you know.” she said, barely holding back laughter.

Snatcher looked like he was going to respond but just shut his mouth and grumbled under his breath as he went back to what he was doing before, making Gianna nervously chuckle as she was soon led upstairs. Her heart pounded in her chest as she awaited being yelled at by CC for back talking to one of the other people in the house. However it...never came. Instead, CC just held her closer, her laughter almost sounding like purring.

“You’re sassy! I like that! Now, I’m sure you’re very tired, so here,” CC stopped in front of a room at the end of the hallway, “is your bedroom! I’m across the hall so holler for me if you need anything.” CC said, patting Gianna’s hat before she headed off to door across from Gianna’s.

Gianna stood there in amazement that she wasn’t actually being yelled at before she waved at CC before she headed into her room, closing the door behind her. She was then amazed even more by the mere size of the bedroom. It was absolutely enormous and she couldn’t help but excitedly giggle as she ran over to the bed and flopped down on it. She just laid there, giggling to herself as she stared up at the ceiling, her laughter fading off.

She was really in a new place.

With a new family.

Again.

Gianna sighed as she pulled out Rumbi, her favourite, well-loved dog plush out of her backpack and stared at it’s pink button eyes before she hugged it close. 

She really hoped that this nice family would at least last a year this time.


	2. Meet the Housemates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gianna meets the rest of the people who live in her aunt's house.

Gianna woke up to sunlight peeking through the curtains and hitting her eyes. Groaning, she tried to roll over to block out the sunlight but realized that it was too late for her to go back to sleep. Letting out a loud sigh, she got out of bed and stretched, feeling rather well rested last night, despite arriving to the house so early in the morning. She went toward the door and opened it, only to reveal a girl a year or two older than her standing right outside.

The girl had short, curly dark brown hair that reminded Gianna a lot of her old friend Yumi, earthy brown skin, and bright teal eyes that were widened with surprise. She wore a cute little cat-ear headband, cat themed purple pajamas, and cat slippers. The girl’s surprise quickly turned into happiness as she grinned happily.

“Oh, you’re awake! I was just about to get you for breakfast!” she said cheerfully, gesturing for Gianna to follow her.

Gianna unsurely nodded as she followed the girl through the house to the kitchen. As they got close to the kitchen, Gianna could hear loud pop music playing as well as a heavily accented voice screeching incomprehensibly about something, which made her admittedly shrink down and cling to the girl, not sure what else to do. The girl startled before she noticed what Gianna was doing and gave her a wide and comforting smile.

“Don’t worry about the yelling. Conductor is very loud but harmless. He’s a cranky old man who gets annoyed by loud music and overly strong cologne. Both of which Grooves specialize in.” she reassured as they got closer to the kitchen.

From the doorway, Gianna was able to see that there was a gaggle of adults in the kitchen, some of which the brunette recognized. Cooking at the stove was CC, her back turned to the doorway as she obviously tried to focus on her cooking while Snatcher was at the table, sipping what looked like coffee from his mug as he snickered at the arguing that was commencing.

Standing in front of a pulled out seat was a stout man that seemed to be a little shorter than Gianna with golden hair that covered his eyes, tan skin, and wore a black suit with a pinkish-white dress shirt, a purple tie, and a conductor hat. At the counter in front of the radio and giving the golden haired man a shit-eating grin was a man with faintly mismatched dark skin, one brown eye and one blue eye, a black afro that was streaked with gold, rather large gold eyebrows, and wore a red and gold jacket over a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and red platform shoes that seemed almost impossible to walk in.

“Mr. Grooves, could you please lower the volume on the music? It nearly frightened Gianna half to death.” the girl asked, squeezing Gianna’s hand tightly as she brought her over to the kitchen table and sat her across from Snatcher.

The two arguing men both paused as they turned and looked at Gianna, making her shrink down a little in her seat. The afroed man, who Gianna assumed as Grooves, gave a wide grin as he strode over and sat down at the table across the golden haired man, who she assumed was Conductor.

“Why, hello there, darling! You must be CC’s niece, right?” he asked, his voice deep and mellow as he folded his hands in front of him on the table.

Gianna shyly nodded, not sure how to feel about so many adults there currently were in the room. However, before Grooves could continue asking, CC came over with a couple of plates of pancakes that she was juggling on her arms. She set a plate in front of everyone, though Gianna could have sworn that Snatcher wrinkled his nose in disgust at the food. However, CC was still holding an extra plate, even when she put her plate at her own spot, and that’s when Gianna noticed that there was an empty seat at the table.

“Felicity, could you go get-?” CC started to ask the girl next to Gianna, who must have been Felicity.

“Good morning, darlings~!” a cheerful and peppy voice said from the doorway, having a similar accent that Grooves did.

Gianna turned around in her seat and saw a girl standing in the doorway. She had reddish brown skin, bright red hair that was done up into dual buns, and wore an obnoxiously bright colored outfit that looked like she decided to dress in only neons and was only emphasized by the fact that she had blue heart-shaped hair clips and blue heart-shaped sunglasses. Gianna could have sworn that she heard a groan from Snatcher as the girl walked over and sat down at the table across from CC, who handed her the plate of pancakes. The bright-colored girl beamed at Gianna and held out a hand for her to shake.

“Aria Garrison, at your service!” she said cheerfully as Gianna hesitantly took her hand and shook it.

“God, not the annoying brat.” Snatcher grumbled as he finally took a bite out of his pancakes, his nose wrinkling.

Gianna could have sworn that Aria’s smile twitched as she let go of her hand and turned toward Snatcher, folding her hands in front of her. A loud yelp escaped Snatcher as he suddenly sat up and glared at Aria, whose smile somehow seemed much more menacing now.

“What was that,  _ darling _ ?” the redhead asked, venom dripping from her voice.

Snatcher grumbled as he reached below the table to do something before he grumpily used his fork to stab one of the sausages. After that, breakfast was fairly uneventful other than a few scathing comments passed between Grooves and Conductor. After Gianna finished her pancakes, she soon realized that she had no idea what she wanted to do in this new town. However, her silent was answered by Felicity when she got up from the table and sent Gianna a wide grin before she turned toward CC.

“Hey, Mom, can I go show Gianna around the town? There’s nothing else really to do until school starts up on Tuesday!” she said, a pleading look on her face.

CC thoughtfully tapped her lower lip before smiling as she ruffled Felicity’s hair, making the girl squeak and pout as her headband went over eyes for a brief second.

“You two can go, as long as you bring Aria with you. And you don’t go in your jammies.” CC said with an understanding smile as she booped her nose.

Felicity giggled sheepishly as she waved goodbye to the group as she dashed upstairs. With that, everyone started to leave, with Grooves and Conductor bickering quietly as they left, though Grooves gave Aria a big hug and a grin, and Snatcher trudging upstairs, though not before giving Gianna and Aria both ginormous glares. As soon as Snatcher had left their sight, Gianna felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and she looked over to see Aria beaming at her.

For a split second, the brunette could have sworn that she saw a pair of slit-pupiled eyes behind the sunglasses but, as soon as she saw it, they were gone, and all she could see was her own reflection in the bright blue plastic.

“So, you’re Gianna, right?” When Gianna nodded, Aria’s grin grew wider, “that’s wonderful! It’s been lonely with only one other kid in the house. So now, we won’t be as bored! And, lucky for you, we have a little squad that you can definitely join!” she said, with an encouraging grin.

“A squad?” Gianna asked, still very surprised by how welcoming the two kids were.

“Yep! There’s only two kids in this squad, but that’s totally okay, because sometimes you just gotta have a small, close knit group!” Aria said, holding up her hand to emphasize how many people there were in the group

But, before Gianna could question it, Felicity came back downstairs, wearing mostly the same outfit, but she had traded out her slippers and pajama pants for maroon shorts and cat themed boots. However, what got Gianna’s attention was that, in her hands was Gianna’s top hat.

“Hey, Gianna, I noticed that this was sitting on your desk. Do you want to take it to town?” the cat-themed girl asked, holding the hat out for her to take.

Gianna stared at the hat for a few seconds before taking it, gripping the familiar fabric tightly in her hands before putting it on, sighing as she felt a part of her click into place upon the return of her childhood object. She then flicked it upward into place and gave the other two girls a giant grin.

“I’m ready to go.” she said with a cheerful grin.

Aria stared at her for a minute before she laughed, giving Gianna a heavy pat on the back as she headed toward the door, a skip in her step as she rambled at a fast pace about all the places that she couldn’t wait to show her, which made both Gianna and Felicity giggle a little. As Gianna was about to go out the door after Aria, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Felicity giving her an encouraging smile.

“I’m glad to see you befriended Aria so easily. It took months for me to get remotely close to her.” she said with a nostalgic sigh as she put her hands in her sweater pockets.

Before Gianna could reply, Aria yelled at them to hurry up so that they could hit all the locations in town before it got dark. The two giggled and ran after her. Gianna found hersself unable to keep a giant smile of her face during the entire tour of the town, mostly because both Felicity and Aria were just so cheerful that it was hard not to smile around them. Eventually, they got to a small park, where Gianna spotted two girls talking. However, one of the two girls made her stop in place and stare.

The girl in question had floofy dark brown hair that was tied with a giant sky blue bow, skin that was a tad lighter than Felicity’s, and wore a pale green sweater over a blue frilly dress as well as dark blue boots and white stockings. When the girl turned to face the group of girls, Gianna could see that her eyes were a bright purple, a trait that she had only seen with one person...

“Yumi?”


End file.
